Paige was at her temp job at the factory, when she heard her name being called. She looked up in the direction of the voice, and saw Chris frantically waving his hands from behind the door of the janitor's closet. She excused herself and went to see him.
"Please don't tell me that you want us to vanquish a demon in the middle of the day" Paige pouted.
"No, no don't worry about that, it's something else"
Paige was about to blurt out a sarcastic comment when she noticed the look of pure agony on Chris's face, which was surprising considering the fact that he always kept his face emotionless, as much as possible anyways.
"Chris, what's wrong? Did something happen to Piper, Phoebe,….." Paige's panic rant was cut short by Chris's hand.
"They're all fine, don't worry. It's about Prue" Chris's voice was barely over a whisper.
Paige's eyes widened. "How could it possibly have anything to do with Prue? She's been dead for 2 years now."
Phoebe was sitting in a beach chair, reading one of her books, glancing at Andie every few minutes to make sure that her niece is doing well, and waving at her from time to time. She couldn't help but reflect on Prue. How much she misses her older sister, how much she would have loved to have her eldest sister tell her how proud she is of her, and how proud she is of Andie and how that little girl is turning out. Suddenly she was swarmed with this strong feeling of intimidation, she was surprised that even though Prue was dead, that she was still THAT intimidating, even in memory. She tried to shake the feeling, but to her surprise found that it was getting stronger. A hand was placed on her shoulder, jolting her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see her boss, Jason Dean.
"Jason" she barely managed to say, since she was overwhelmed with emotions, which she still couldn't explain.
"Hey Phoebe, can we talk?" Jason said, as he flashed her that smile that always makes her go weak in the knees. 'Good thing I'm already sitting down' she couldn't help but think.
Jason stayed quiet for a while trying to compose his thoughts, and the longer he stayed silent, the stronger her emotions got.
"Look that night when you received your award was, um….well great" Jason stammered and blushed, causing Phoebe's cheeks to feel as if on fire. "Yea it was" she said, blushing.
Then suddenly she was overwhelmed by this feeling of sadness, but before she could ponder the thought any further, she felt someone tugging on her skirt. She looked down to meet the big beautiful blue orbs of her niece, "Aunt Phoebe, I wanna go home" Andie said in a very sad voice, and Phoebe could feel herself close to tears, also for unknown reason. She bent down and picked up her niece, then turned around to apologize to Jason, and ask him for a rain check on that conversation, when she was flooded with a feeling of disappointment, then another of anger, and then another and then another and then another. She felt her head spin.
"PHOEBE" Jason yelled her name, jolting her out of her trance. And the feeling of worry that came from him made her realize what is happening.
"Jason, I do want to talk about this, but I REALLY need to get home now. Andie is a bit tired and it's time for her nap" she hastily said, before giving him a quick kiss on his cheek and leaving, with her niece securely placed on her hip.
"So let me get this straight, my eldest SISTER, a CHARMED ONE, has been held captive by some demon in the underworld for the past 2 years" Paige basically yelled, her anger and fury escalating to dangerous levels.
All that Chris could do was nod in agreement.
"But…." Paige started to say but then cut herself off, "You know what, I'll save all the questions for the family meeting, is there any plan right now?"
"Yeah, we need you to go get Phoebe and meet Piper at the house, and I'll go down to the underworld and see what I can find out"
Piper was pacing in the foyer as she waited for Prue to finish her shower. She glanced at Wyatt, and found him playing happily in his playpen. She looked up at the familiar jingling of orbs that materialized into her husband.
"I swear to God Leo, if those freaking elders did NOT give you a proper answer I am going to make Wyatt orb me up there right after I find a way to vanquish them for real" Piper was practically screeching, causing Leo to wince at her tone. He opened his mouth to answer, when the front door flew open and Phoebe came in carrying a sleeping Andie in her arms. Leo took Andie as an excuse to get away from Piper at the moment.
"Why don't I take Andie upstairs to her room while you two talk?" Leo cheekily asked, taking Andie from Pheobe's arms and bolting up the stairs.
Piper turned around and was about to talk when Phoebe started ranting, "Remember a year ago the empath that we met and he ended up infecting Prue? Well I think I am one now. How cool is that? I mean, I think it may be some advancement of my premonition powers, or just a new power, I'm not sure. I need to talk to Leo about that and…" Phoebe was happily explaining to Piper. Piper had tried to interrupt her a few times but failed miserably. However Phoebe's ranting was cut short when she suddenly doubled over in pain.
Phoebe was focused on the amount of pain she's feeling that she didn't notice that, even though two sisters ran to her aid, one of them was Prue.
"OH MY GOD" Phoebe was on her knees and in tears, and shaking. Piper lifted her gaze and looked at Prue; which was when she put two and two together.
"Prue go back inside the bathroom, and shut the door", Piper ordered. Prue looked quizzically at her; but got up and walked back into the bathroom nonetheless; but didn't close the door all the way through.
Phoebe's head snapped up when she heard what Piper had said 'Prue' she slowly turned her head towards the bathroom, and couldn't believe her own eyes. There standing in the door way of the bathroom, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, concern itching in every detail of her face and jumping out of her eyes, the very same blue eyes that she thought would never look at her again, was her sister Prue.
"Prue" Phoebe's voice was barely a whisper, as her tears continued to flow down her face but for a very different reason than minutes before. She moved to go hug her sister, when she felt Piper hold her back. She turned around and looked at Piper with murder in her eyes " you're an empath Phoebe, the reason why you doubled over was because you felt what Prue was feeling, so you're staying away from each other till we figure out a way to keep you out of our emotions" Piper firmly said.
Phoebe was about to argue; when she noted that her proximity to Piper was causing her to overflow with emotions as well; but they had been clouded by Prue's presence. She turned around and looked at Prue with longing her eyes, "It's OK Pheebs, they'll be plenty of time for that later" Prue said soothingly from the bathroom although she couldn't keep the longing out of her voice or her eyes.
They all looked up at the sound of footsteps hurrying down the stairs. "Is everything alright?" a very worried and panicked Leo asked.
"Oh nothing, Phoebe is an Empath now, and what she was reading off of Prue caused her to double over" Piper said, while looking at Prue from the corner of her eyes, and noticed the look of pure guilt that Prue had on her face.
"Yea, not to mention that Piper's anxiety isn't easy to deal with either" Phoebe replied cheekily, earning a chuckle from Leo and a glare from Piper.
"Wait, Piper said that Andie was with you, where is she?" Prue asked, panic causing her voice to rise by the end of the sentence.
"She's upstairs sleeping peacefully" Leo said as he walked over to his sister in law, giving her a hug, "Welcome back Prue, I missed you" Leo murmured genuinely. Prue felt herself relax into Leo's embrace and tightly hugged him back " I missed you too Leo", she let go of him and looked at her two sister "I missed all of you", all three of them had tears in their eyes.
Piper didn't know what to do; on one hand she desperately wanted to be held by her older sister, and on the other hand she didn't want to hurt Phoebe. Since Phoebe was an empath, she picked up on Piper's emotions "it's ok sweetie, it won't hurt me" Phoebe warmly said through her tears. Piper looked at her for a few seconds not catching on, before rolling her eyes and darting towards her eldest sister's open arms. Phoebe looked at them with tears in her eyes, and blew a kiss to Prue.
That tender moment was cut short by the familiar jingle of orbs that materialized into Paige, "Piper, I searched the entire beach for….PHOEBE" Paige had started explaining that she couldn't find Phoebe, only to be met with her teary brown eyes. She was looking at Phoebe a bit confused at the apparent pain in her features, when an unfamiliar voice called her name "Paige". She turned in the direction of the voice to be met with the legendary sister and witch, she heard so much about but never met.
"Prue" Paige said, holding back the tears –which was a surprise to her- Prue's warm smile and open arms got rid of any hesitation on Paige's side, and she was in her sister's arms in seconds. Piper walked back to Phoebe and put her arms around her as they both watched Paige finally get to meet Prue.
"I've dreamt so long about this" Paige tearfully said into her sister's shoulder. Prue chuckled and held her harder, "me too"
A few moments later they let go of each other, and turned around to face their sisters. "How about a group hug?" Paige asked.
"Oh that's not a good idea" Phoebe tearfully answered although she was smiling.
"Why not?" Paige looked confusingly at each of her sisters. Phoebe gave her that 'do you have memory problems look' before she realized that Paige wasn't here, "I'm an empath and I'm picking up on Prue's emotions and they're intense" Phoebe said.
"You're an empath" Paige said as her eyebrows hit her hairline from the surprise, "but didn't that nearly destroy Prue when she got it?" she asked, the confusion still present.
" That's because Prue wasn't meant to have it" Leo calmly explained.
"How did you know about that?" Prue asked.
"These two filled me in on your wiccan history" Paige answered.
"Ok, how about we move this family meeting into the living room? While maintaining a distance between Phoebe and Prue" Piper said.
"I still need to understand how is Prue here; not that am not grateful' Phoebe said.
"I'll explain everything, I promise" Leo said as he maneuvered Phoebe into the living room so they can talk.
Prue sat in between Piper and Paige, while Phoebe stood by the window next to Leo, and Wyatt sat in his mother's lap.
"Ok, what did you find out from the elders?" Piper asked looking at Leo.
"Well, a lot actually. They said that the reason why no one realized that Prue's spirit wasn't around is because she was left in a different spirit roam than Patty and Penny to stop her from spying on you guys or contacting you, which allowed whoever the demon put in Prue's place to stay without getting caught, since if Penny or Patty needed her, they used to go to her not the other way around"
"Ok, that explains why they didn't know anything about it, but how come we didn't? I mean we went to the underworld a few times, you should have sensed her" Piper confusingly asked.
"No the cave was magic proof, he made sure that Leo wouldn't be able to sense me even if he's in the underworld" Prue explained.
"But I became the QUEEN of the underworld, how come I didn't get news of this?" Phoebe asked, completely oblivious to the bomb she just dropped.
"You became WHAT?" Prue shrieked.
"I'll fill you in later" Paige said with a smirk on her face, and Phoebe just cheekily smiled at her eldest sister.
"Anyways" Piper said to get the conversation back on track, "If the demon had the cave magic proofed, and made sure you couldn't sense her even if you're in the underworld, then how come Wyatt was able to sense her all the way from up here?" Piper asked.
"Wyatt is the one that sensed her?" Phoebe asked, her eyebrows raised. Wyatt looked up at his aunt, at the mention of his name. "'Good job Buddy" Paige proudly said as she reached over Prue and tickled him in his stomach, causing him to erupt into giggles. Prue looked at him, the leaned down and kissed his forehead "thank you".
Leo cleared his throat, and waited till all eyes were on him before he went on, "they said that it is possible that his charmed side is manifesting by making his whitelighter side even stronger, so even though I can't sense you guys when you're in the underworld from up here, he can. And since he's Twice Blessed and very powerful, he was able to sense Prue, despite her being in the underworld and in a magic proof cave".
"Yea but how did he know who she was?" Paige wondered.
" many reasons, one is his link with Andie; she's been asking about Prue a lot lately, so it's possible that he sensed Prue as being the one is Andie is looking for. Two; she's his aunt so he sensed her as being a part of him. Three, Prue's desperate need to protect him even though she never really met him, somehow got him to sense her. He never felt her before because his powers weren't strong enough" Leo explained.
"What do you mean Andie's been asking about me a lot lately?" Prue worriedly asked.
Piper sighed before turning around and taking her sister's hand into her, "we summoned mom and grams for Wyatt's wickaning, so she started asking how come we can't summon you, I tried to explain it to her, but she's 3 and half and didn't get it, so she keeps asking if we can summon you, or even go back to see you" Piper explained. Prue couldn't keep the tears back.
"Well we need to find that demon and vanquish him" Phoebe said in an attempt to change the subject.
"That's why I sent Chris to the underworld to see what he can find out" Piper said nonchalantly.
Prue's eyes widened in horror and looked at her sister, "Chris, as in the young man who was standing here when you got me out?" to which Piper nodded, "you sent him to the underworld?", again Piper nodded.
"it's ok Prue, he does that a lot, he came from the future to stop some evil that will hurt Wyatt, so he goes to the underworld a lot, and he has an advantage" Paige calmingly explained to her sister. Prue just shook her head and said nothing, but the other 4 couldn't help but wonder why she reacted the way she did.
And as if on cue, Chris teleported into the living room, looking even angrier than he had when he left.
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